


Crash

by bananannabeth



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, this is old so Percy's little sister is called Ava in it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 02:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13261584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananannabeth/pseuds/bananannabeth
Summary: All Annabeth can see is the image of the Prius wrapped around a tree.





	Crash

 

Annabeth is on her feet as soon as the image flashes on the screen. “Oh, gods…”

 

Sally walks into the room, checking her watch and frowning slightly. “Still no word from -” She stops dead, eyes glued to the screen. For a moment neither woman breathes, and then; “ _Paul_!”

 

He runs into the room, little Ava sitting on his hip. His eyes flicker between Sally and Annabeth, wide with worry. The source of their distress isn’t obvious, as the news broadcast has moved on to the next story.

 

Annabeth can still see the image of the Prius wrapped around a tree, though.

 

Ava makes a small noise and hits her dad on the arm, picking up on the tension in the room. Paul is on the verge of properly panicking now. “What’s wrong, what is it?” 

 

Sally recovers first. “We need to go.”

 

“Go? Go where?”

 

Annabeth recites the street given on the broadcast - it’s halfway between here and camp. Too far away.

 

A knot of worry is building in her stomach, constricting her airway, making it hard to breathe, hard to think. She has to get to him. That’s all that matters. She just has to get to him.

 

They pile into Sally’s car and Paul drives them through the city like a man possessed. Sally sits in the back next to Ava’s carseat, holding her tiny hand and staring out the window, looking a million miles away.

 

Annabeth is planted far too firmly in the front passenger seat, stuck stubbornly in the present no matter how much she wills time to speed up and get her the hades out of there. As they drive out of the city she fires off a string of silent prayers and threats to all of the gods -  _Let him be okay, please, please, let him be okay. If he isn’t okay I swear on the Styx I am coming for all of you, after everything he’s done for you after everything we’ve been through please just help him this one time._

 

Paul brakes hard when they hit the police road block around the scene of the accident. Annabeth’s unbuckled and jumping from her seat before the car’s even come to a complete stop. She pulls her cap from her back pocket, slams it onto her head and ducks past the barricade.

 

There’s a crowd of emergency workers around the crumpled front end of the car. She gets as close as she dares, stands on her tiptoes and tries to peer into the driver’s seat, terrified of what she might find there.

 

But it’s empty.

 

“This is a complete write off,” a cop is saying, scratching her head with her torch. “But whoever the driver was managed to kick the door open and get out.”

 

“So where’d they go?” a paramedic asks.

 

Annabeth doesn’t stick around to hear the theories, because she’s knows they’ll all be wrong. She registers Sally and Paul stuck back at the barricade, explaining in voices barely quieter than a yell that that’s their car, that’s their car their son was driving it,  _where is their son_?

 

She’ll apologise to them for running off later.

 

Now, she takes a deep breath in and darts into the woods off the side of the road. A thick blanket of undergrowth carpets the ground, but Annabeth has traipsed through enough forests by now to know how to run safely through them. 

 

She jumps over tree roots, ducks low hanging branches and just keeps on breathing, in through the nose, out through the mouth. She just keeps breathing.

 

And then she hears it - running water. 

 

She wants to scream, but she’s still too close to the crash. So she just picks up the pace and follows the sound until a creek comes into view.

 

And there, lying at the edge of it, his right side submerged in the water and his left side covered in golden dust, is Percy.

 

Annabeth can’t help it this time. “Percy!” she cries, falling to her knees beside him.

 

For a gut wrenching second he doesn’t respond and she thinks she’s too late, the water wasn’t enough, the crash was too bad and he’s already gone.

 

But then he opens his eyes and smiles crookedly. “Sorry,” he croaks, “I’m going to be a little late to dinner.”

 

“Percy!” she barely stops herself from hitting him in the arm. “Oh, gods, Percy, we were so worried! What happened?”

 

“Monster hit the car. Crashed into a tree. Nothing I couldn’t handle.” He tries to sit up, wincing.

 

She supports his back and hands him a piece of ambrosia, watching him slowly chew it. “Are you okay?”

 

“Fine.” He waves his hand limply. “I killed it. Came down here to recharge.”

 

“Recharge?” 

 

“Yeah.” He smiles. Some of the colour’s returning to his face, and the few surface injuries that hadn’t been healed by the water are slowly fading thanks to ambrosia. “I just got knocked around a bit, I promise it’s nothing serious.”

 

Once he’s finished the ambrosia square, Annabeth leans forward and kisses him. “Please don’t ever frighten me like that again.”

 

He frowns. “Sorry. I’ll try to schedule my next surprise monster attack for a night we don’t have dinner plans.”

 

She does punch him in the arm this time - lightly, though. “Seaweed Brain.”

 

Percy kisses her until she’s smiling, and then she helps him to his feet.

 

“Your family’s waiting up there, talking to the cops.”

 

He groans. “Oh, gods. How am I gonna talk my way out of this one? And they’re gonna kill me for wrecking the car…”

 

Annabeth drapes his arm over her shoulder and says confidently, “I think they’ll be a little more concerned about you than the car, Percy. Come on, let’s brainstorm stories while we walk back up.”

 

“Yeah, I think I’ll let you do all the talking while I just give my mom a hug.”

 

“Good plan.”

 

 


End file.
